Propeller



F. J. GALLAGHER.

PROPELLER. APPLICATION FILED OCT. is, 1919.

1 ,33 1, 191 I Patented Tel). 1-7, 1920.

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FRANK J. GALLAGHER, 0F "WILKES-BARBIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

PROPELLER.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 17, 1920.

Application filed October 15, 1919. Serial No. 330,690.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK J. GALLAGHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wilkes-Barre, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Propellers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object the provision of a novel propeller whereby increased speed may be imparted to a vessel without an excessive expenditure of power or consumption of fuel. The invention seeks to produce a propeller which will be protected against damage from floating OlOJeOtS and the life of which will he therefore prolonged relative to propellers now in use. It has been heretofore proposed to inclose screw propellers in tubular casings so that they will be protected from damage by floating objects, but it has been found that when the propeller was so inclosed in a tubular casing the lateral pressure exerted by the water upon the propeller blade was not sutficient to properly resist the action of the propeller with the result that the water was merely turned over and over within the tubular casing and did not act as an abutment against which the force of the propeller was exerted so as to drive the vessel. Specifically, therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide means whereby the water will be held against turning with the propeller and will be caused to resist the action of the propeller so that the vessel will be driven. WVhile, in the accompanying drawings, the invention is illustrated as applied to a vessel to propel the same, it is to be understood that my improvements may be embodied in pumps by connecting the opposite ends of the tubular casing with a source of supply and a conveyer through which the liquid may be carried to a point of discharge or use.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a Vessel having my improvements applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a plan view, the propeller casing being shown in section and the vessel being illustrated in a conventional manner;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the resistance or water-retaining device as the same is employed in the illustrated embodiment of the invention.

The vessel 1 may be of any preferred size,

form and dimensions and is illustrated as equipped with a plurality of motors 2 each of which is connected by gearing with a propeller. As shown, a propeller 3 is pro vided at the bow of the vessel and a pro peller 4 upon each side thereof. Referring particularly to the side propellers at, it will be noted that each propeller comprises a tubular casing 5 having open ends and supported by brackets 6 extending from the side of the vessel. A propeller shaft 7 is journaled the brackets 6 and the casing 5 is constructed with an inner offset portion 8 which provides a chamber for the re sis-tance elements. The ends 9 of the offset 8 are closed and the said ends provide bearings for the shaft 10 of the resistance ele ment. The shafts 7 and 10 extend rearwardly beyond the casing 5 and the offset 8 and are equipped with pinions or gears 11 and 12, respectively, which mesh with an idler 13 disposed between them and carried by a bracket 14 on the end of the casing or projecting from the side of the vessel, the provision of the idler causing the gears 11 and 12 to rotate in the same direction so that the shafts 7 and 10 will also rotate in the same direction. A sprocket pinion 15 is secured upon the shaft 9 and a chain 16 is trained around the said sprocket and a similar sprocket 17 on the shaft of the motor 2. The motors 2 may be electric motors or internal combustion engines, or steam engines as may be most convenient or desirable. The propeller 4: is in the form of a spiral blade or wing secured to and extending from end to end of the shaft 7 within the casing 5. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the resistance member com= prises a similar spiral blade or wing 18 se cured upon and extending from end to end of the shaft 10 and upon the opposite faces of the said blade 18 at intervals along the edge thereof I provide projections or baffies 19.

The front propeller 3 is of the same construction as the side propellers l and is mounted Within a tubular casing 20 which is disposed longitudinally of the keel of the vessel at the bow thereof and has an open front end while from its rear end laterally extending tubes 21 extend to the sides of the vessel. The resistance member is indicated at 22 and is mounted above the blade of the propeller 3 within an upper extension of the casing 20 but is of the same construction as the member 18 and each retainin member is so arranged that the edge of its lade will extend into the space between adjacent convolutions of the coop:

erating propeller blade.

The motors 2 having been started, mot10n will be obviously transmitted through the edges of the propeller blade and the waterretaining blade Wlll move in opposite directions. As a result of this opposed movement of the ad]acent portions of the blades 4 and 18 the bafiies or projections 19 will be carried through the space between adj a cent convolutions of the propeller and will tend to beat back or hold the water which would otherwise merely turn with the propeller blade in the casing 5 so that the water will-be relatively stationary and will -serve as an abutment against which the force of the blade will be exerted. The vessel will, consequently, be driven through the water as Will be readily understood. The

operation of the device as a pump will be the same except that the casing will be secured to a fixed support so that the power applied to the propeller blade and exerted through the same will set up travel of the water and force the same through the casnig.

My device can be very readily applied to any type of vessel and inasmuch as it will not occupy a large amount of space a plurality of the propellers may be fitted upon any vessel and, consequently, a very high speed attained. Inasmuch as the propellers are all inolosed they will be efiectually protected against blows from floating objects and the necessity for repairs or renewals of any of the parts will be thereby minimized.

Havingthus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

The combination with an open-ended tubular casing, of a propeller screw disposed longitudinally of the casing, an ofiset extending longitudinally of the casing and having closed ends, a second screw disposed longitudinally in the oli'set with its convolutions overlapping and fitting between the convolutions of the propeller screw, and means exterior to the casing to rotate the screws in the same direction.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature. FRANK J. GALLAGHER. [L. s.] 

